Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. It doesn’t have to be that way.

A colonoscopy can detect the disease at an early, treatable stage. But because that traditional test is an invasive procedure, a third of all U.S. adults who should get tested don’t get screened.

Exact Sciences aims to change that with Cologuard®, the first FDA-approved, noninvasive stool-DNA test for the disease.

In a field where experts say the best test is the one that gets done, that’s huge news.

The secret of our success

From the moment the FDA gave approval, the testing kits, warehoused in a UPS facility in Louisville, Ky., were quickly moved between patients and Exact Sciences Laboratories in Madison, Wis., via the UPS network.

The conventional test for the disease, the colonoscopy, is an invasive, in-patient probe involving a part of the body that embarrasses a lot of people.

Prep time, anesthesia and time away from work add to the aversion to the conventional screening.

So while doctors recommend anyone without a family history or symptoms of the disease get a colonoscopy at age 50 and every 10 years after that, more than 20 million Americans remain untested.

Many others get tested just once.

Of the more than 80 million people in the U.S. for whom routine colorectal cancer screening is recommended, nearly half have not been screened according to current guidelines.

Since one in 20 U.S. adults will ultimately be diagnosed with colon cancer, millions of those people will go on to develop the disease.

The later the diagnosis, the grimmer the prognosis.

Our team at Exact Sciences, a Wisconsin-based molecular diagnostics company, works to change that bleak picture.

Our company, dedicated to the early diagnosis of some of the deadliest cancers, developed an accurate, non-invasive, patient friendly screening test called Cologuard® for the early detection of colorectal cancer and pre-cancerous polyps.

Approved by the FDA in 2014, Cologuard remains the only stool DNA-based, non-invasive colorectal cancer-screening test on the market.

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“ The later the diagnosis, the grimmer the prognosis. ”

It works by searching for telltale genetic markers associated with the disease and its precursors.

The groundbreaking science behind the test belongs to Exact Sciences. The world-class logistics network that supports the company and its patients belongs to UPS.

Even before the FDA approved Cologuard, we knew we would have a distribution challenge on our hands once the test went to market.

The challenge was getting collection kits to patients in an easy, cost-effective way.

The typical method is to stock the doctor’s office with collection kits.

But there are 280,000 primary care physicians and probably 200,000 who are pretty active, so that approach would have created a massive inventory challenge for us.

We needed expertise in logistics and operations to distribute kits to patients or physicians.

UPS has been supporting the healthcare industry – in traditional ways – for decades, transporting pharmaceuticals and medical devices around the globe.

But in recent years, it has begun to support the industry in some surprising ways as well, operating state-of-the-art, DEA-approved warehouses and fulfillment facilities at strategic locations around the globe staffed entirely by UPS employees.

Healthcare companies can outsource almost everything to UPS except the actual manufacturing of their products, reducing their inventory costs and freeing up working capital.

We sat down with UPS and explored all the operational challenges and burdens we’d identified. They just had a we-can-solve-this-with-you attitude.

Our mission was important to them. So we put our brains together, focusing not on who was going to make money, but on the problem itself. All the other attributes of a business relationship emerged.

When a doctor prescribes the test, a Cologuard kit is pulled from a UPS-run warehouse in Louisville, Ky., and transported via UPS Next Day Air to the patient’s home.

The patient provides a stool sample, reseals the kit and calls UPS, which picks it up and transports it, again, by Next Day Air, back to Exact Sciences’ Laboratory, where lab techs look for any signs in the stool of the telltale genetic material associated with cancerous and precancerous mutations.

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“ Choose a world-class company, like UPS, when a new product and people’s lives are on the line. ”

Physicians and patients have test results within a couple weeks.

UPS’s extensive knowledge of logistics is greater than we could ever develop internally.

It’s why you should choose a world-class company when a new product – and people’s lives – are on the line.

At Exact Sciences, we’re glad we did.

Every morning, wake up to the blog that gives you the latest trends shaping tomorrow.

Kevin Conroy is the Chairman and CEO of Exact Sciences, a molecular diagnostics company focused on the early detection and prevention of colon cancer.

Almost everyone knows someone who has battled cancer. The good news is that when detected early, many of the most common cancers are both treatable and survivable.

The challenge is that in order to detect cancer early, people have to get tested, but many avoid routine screening for some of the most common types of cancers because the tests themselves can be undesirable.

Take prostate and lung cancers, for example. In the past, getting a clear diagnosis often involved biopsy or surgery. Patients demanded better options and the healthcare industry responded with new, more patient-friendly options that still provide the critical information needed to make informed care decisions.

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“The availability of convenient, reliable screening technology could very well be a critical link for early cancer detection.”

In the case of prostate cancer, a simple urine test can now identify specific markers that could indicate cancer and has been shown to deliver more accurate results than the prostate specific antigen (PSA) test alone.

A new breathalyzer test currently under development has the potential to detect lung cancer and identify its stage of progression.

This demand for noninvasive testing options will only grow, and so the availability of convenient, reliable screening technology could very well be a critical link for early cancer detection, prevention and survivability. Nowhere is this truer than with colon cancer.

Evolution in colon cancer screening

Colon cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer-related deaths among both men and women. Guidelines recommend that people at average risk get regular screening starting at age 50. Unfortunately, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS), as many as 23 million Americans in this age group are not getting screened as recommended.

The standard in colon cancer screening is the colonoscopy. What makes this test so effective is that doctors are able to visually inspect the colon for signs of cancer and then, during the same procedure, remove potentially problematic tissue or polyps. The removal of polyps reduces the chances that they will later develop into cancer.

As a result, colonoscopy is the only screening method shown to be effective in preventing cancer and decreasing mortality rates of colorectal cancer.

While colonoscopy is an effective screening option, many people have reservations about the test for a variety of reasons, including the invasive nature of the procedure, as well as the time and preparation on the patient’s part that it requires.

In the case of colon cancer, the critical need for noninvasive screening options that consumers are more likely to complete has driven the healthcare industry to innovate once again.

At-home tests fill an important gap

At-home tests such as the fecal occult blood test (FOBT) and fecal immunochemical test (FIT) were developed to meet the need for noninvasive screening options. Both are designed to detect blood in the stool not seen by the naked eye. However, because not all polyps bleed and because blood can be an indicator of issues other than cancer, these tests are less accurate than colonoscopy and therefore must be completed every one to three years.

Another noninvasive, at-home screening tool called Cologuard was approved by the FDA last summer and is indicated for use by adults 50 and over who are at average risk for colon cancer. Cologuard, which is available by prescription only, analyzes stool to detect both blood and DNA associated with cancer and precancers.

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“To make tests truly “simple” for patients, healthcare and logistics companies have to build “complex” infrastructures and processes. ”

Cologuard makes colon cancer screening simple and convenient. The collection kit is delivered directly to the patient’s residence via UPS and once the specimen is provided, it is picked up and sent to the lab for analysis.

Patients receive their test results from their doctor in about two weeks and if they get a positive result, their doctor will send them for a diagnostic colonoscopy. If the result is negative, patients should continue participating in a screening program at an interval and with a method appropriate for the individual patient.

(Cologuard is not for everyone, so it’s important to talk to your doctor about what test is right for you.)

What it all means

Demand has led to the development of cancer testing options that are noninvasive, easy to complete and patient-friendly.

The irony is that in order to make these tests truly “simple” for patients, healthcare and logistics companies have to build “complex” infrastructures and processes to make everything—from delivery of the test to a consumer’s home to pickup and shipment to the lab—timely and seamless. That’s where strategic partnerships and close alignment of needs and goals play an important role.

The very good news is that an ACS study recently found that a number of factors, including improvements in both cancer screening and treatment options, have contributed to a 22% drop in cancer deaths since 1991.

By working together to get innovative solutions into the hands of patients, I’m confident we’ll continue to see a decline for years to come.

Kevin Conroy is the Chairman and CEO of Exact Sciences, a molecular diagnostics company focused on the early detection and prevention of colon cancer.